Tunisia: Bardo attack defendants boycott 5th hearing

Defendants in the Bardo attack trial in Tunisia on Tuesday refused to appear in court for the fifth hearing, in protest to its live broadcast in France.

Civil parties followed the proceedings through video-conference from the Paris Court of Appeal with simultaneous translation.

The Tunisian judiciary ruled in favour of the defense lawyers whose clients had refused to be filmed during trial.

Victims’ lawyer, Gérard Chemla, explained that, “It was agreed between the Tunis court and the Paris court of appeal, that it would be possible to follow the Paris hearing in a secure room in which there are only victims and lawyers… no journalists, no public. To my knowledge, this is a retransmission that is not recorded, so there are no traces of this retransmission that will remain. The accused are filmed from behind because the camera is at the back of the courtroom.))

56 defendants including two women are being tried under the anti-terrorism law passed in 2015. They will face death penalty if found guilty. The third hearing of the Bardo Museum attack which killed 24 people in March 2015 has been scheduled for January 25, 2019.